


Cullen's Attack

by Willowflower_Waterlily



Series: Alternate Endings and Other Worlds [5]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-22 03:11:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3712621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willowflower_Waterlily/pseuds/Willowflower_Waterlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cullen falls into a deep sleep. Will he wake up?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Rei sat on the bed beside Cullen. "How long has he been out Cassandra?" She asked. Rei adjusted the blankets, and took her husbands hand in her own.

"A few days ago." Cassandra replied. "The worst of it had passed, but we've been having healers keep an eye on him. Now that Anders is back, perhaps he can help." 

"I hope so, I can't lose him." Rei said quietly. "Not after all we've been through." Anders and Dorian entered the room, and walked up to the bedside. Anders summoned magic and scanned Cullen. 

"There is no lyrium left in him, I'm not sure why he hasn't woken up yet." Anders said.

"No." Cullen whimpered. "She's gone, they're all gone." Tears leaked from his closed eyes and his hands shook, grief etched on his face. Rei exchanged glances with the others in the room, before she bent over to whisper in Cullen's ear.

"I'm alive love, but you have to wake up." Rei said quietly into Cullen's ear as she gently caressed Cullen's cheek. "Come back to me, my love. I need you." Rei kissed her husband's forehead, and squeezed his hand before she went to check on the girls.

 

"Can we help him?" Dorian asked Anders after Rei left. 

"I don't know." Anders said, "I think only time will tell, unless we uncover a miracle."


	2. Chapter 2

"We should go into the fade after Cullen." Rei said, and the other two mages looked at her like she had grown another head. "What? He's dreaming, and he thinks we're all dead. If we go into his dream, we could try to convince Cullen to wake up." 

"That might just work, now that I think about it." Anders said. "There was a boy in Kirkwall who we had to go into the fade to save. It might work here too."

"What does it take for a group of four?" Rei asked. "I would assume a lot of lyrium."

"Four?" Dorian asked. "Who else would accompany us?"

"Cassandra." Rei replied. "She was here when the rest of us were out. We may need her to help us convince Cullen that we're in the fade."

 

Rei approached Cassandra with the idea, and while wary of it at first, Cassandra agrees to help. "It will probably take us a couple of days to get everything we need to for the ritual. I'm hoping it won't be needed, that he'll wake up on his own."

"I understand." Cassandra said, "just let me know when and where, and I'll be there." Rei smiled and nodded in thanks.

 

"Come back to me my love, I need you." Rei sat in her desk chair by the bed, and prayed while holding Cullen's hand. When she opened her eyes, she found she was flanked by the girls.

"When will Daddy Cullen wake up?" Brena asked

"I don't know sweetheart." Rei wrapped her arms around all three girls and held them close to her. "If he doesn't wake up in a couple of days, Anders, Dorian, Cassandra, and I are going to go into the fade after him. I pray that we will be able to help him." 

"You will." Brena replied. "I believe in you." Rei smiled and tousled her daughter's hair.

"Did you finish your studies for the day?" The three girls nod. "Go play my loves. Be children while you can. I'll see you at dinner." The girls kiss Rei quickly before they run off to play with the other children.


	3. Chapter 3

"We'll need to be careful with Cullen." Rei crawled onto the bed beside her husband, as the rest of the group got comfortable in other places around the room. "I need you to promise me something, Cassandra."

"Name it."

"If the worst case happens, and he doesn't believe me, he would try to kill me." Rei closed her eyes and sighed. "If he makes me tranquil, I want you to kill me. Don't leave me like that."

"But there is a cure." Cassandra looked as though she would protest further, but Rei halted her objection with a wave of her hand.

"There will be a cure. I don't want to live like that for one minute." Rei's eyes filled with tears as she remembered having to live with Bren after he was made tranquil. "Don't make my family suffer as I did with Bren. Promise me."

"I promise." The four of them take potions and, fall asleep one by one.

 

They walk through a deserted Skyhold. Rei called out for Cullen as they go to his normal places in the keep. "We're the only ones here." Anders noted, and the other nodded. When they entered the main hall of the keep, the group heard Cullen's cries echo off the walls. Rei ran ahead of the rest and up the stairs to their room.

 

As Rei reached the top of the stairs, she saw Cullen crouched in the corner behind the desk, surrounded by demons. Rei shouted and let her soul fill with a white hot fire. Before the others made their way to her, she killed the demons around her husband. Cautiously, she approached Cullen who stared at her as she walked closer. "Stop there demon!" Cullen unsheathed his sword and pointed it at her. "You won't fool me, my wife is dead." 

"But I didn't die, you're in a deep sleep. We came to help you." Rei raised her hands in a sign of peace.

"I don't believe you." Cullen grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the book case behind him. Rei struggled to breath, the wind having been knocked out of her. Menacingly, Cullen held his sword to her. "Any last words, demon?" 

"Cullen, that's enough." Cassandra walked up behind him, her sword drawn.

"This is a demon, Cassandra. They all are. They died. You were at the funeral."

"There was no funeral, Cullen." Cassandra edged her way closer carefully, unsure if he would kill Rei if she got too close. "You've been asleep for a week after an attack due to your lyrium withdrawals."

"Do you remember what I asked you after we fought about me going to the mages for aid?" Rei asked, drawing Cullen's attention back to her. He shook his head, and kept his blade to her throat. "I asked you if you were going to smite me for using magic, and you asked me if I really thought of you like that."

"You must have gotten that from my memories, demon." Cullen kicked Rei's neck with his blade, leaving a thin red line that started to bleed.

"Cassandra, remember your promise." Rei closed her eyes and took a deep breath while she waited for her love to strike her down.

"What promise?" Cullen turned to face Cassandra again.

"She made me promise that if you made her tranquil, that I kill her." Cassandra sighed and gave Cullen an impatient look. 

"The real Rei would never ask that of anyone." Cullen strengthened his grip on Rei.

"Yes I would." Tears fell from her eyes as she remembered life in the circle. "I wouldn't put you or the girls through what I did with Bren in the circle. To be a shell, to never feel or return the feelings of my family." Cullen gritted his teeth, and moved to make a killing blow, as Rei stared into his eyes. "I love you, never forget that."


	4. Chapter 4

Cassandra grabbed his sword arm. "Don't do it Cullen. You'll regret it." Anders quickly put a barrier around Rei.

"Wake up Cullen, you'll find that we're all in the room with you." Dorian stepped in front of Rei, and stared Cullen down. "You'll not take my best friend from me. Not after all we've been through." Rei closed her eyes, and changed the fade around them. They went from being in Skyhold to the tent at Adamant.

"Well this is certainly cheery." Anders joked as he looked around.

"It was where Cullen and I first kissed." Rei closed her eyes and smiled at the memory. "When his lips touched mine, I thought my heart would explode. I never thought I would feel like that with anyone again, and it scared me because I had someone to lose." 

"Rei..." Cullen dropped his sword and bridged the distance between them. "I'm so sorry. I thought..."

"I knew you probably would." Rei cupped his cheek and gazed into his eyes. "It's why I had Cassandra make the promise I did, just in case." She leaned into Cullen's body and kissed him. They embraced one another and kissed as though it had been a life time since they had been together. When they broke their kiss, Rei smiled at Cullen. "When you wake up, I'll be right there, beside you." Rei kissed him once more. "Now, wake up." Cullen beamed at her before he faded away.


	5. Chapter 5

Cullen woke up and looked around him. His heart soared when he saw everyone asleep around him, with Rei curled up against his side. He carefully turned onto his side and planted little kisses all over Rei's face. When he kissed her lips, she kissed him back. When they parted, she looked at him and grinned. "I was so afraid I was going to lose you."

"I nearly lost you." Cullen clung to Rei, a strangled sound escaped his throat. "I almost killed you myself. If Cassandra wasn't there, I would have killed you all." The thought of it was too much for Cullen to think about. It would have been all his fault that the girls wouldn't have their mother and aunt. Tears welled up in his eyes and he buried his face into her neck and sobbed. 

"But you didn't kill us." Rei rubbed his back as she tried to reassure him. "It's why I brought Cassandra with us. I know your past in the Ferelden circle. Cassandra was always there to stop you from doing something you would regret."

"I love you, Rei." Cullen wiped the tears from his face, and told Rei, Dorian, Anders, and Cassandra about the nightmare he had. How all of them but Cassandra died. The funeral, the feeling of emptiness that consumed him.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that." Rei's heart broke for her husband, for what he had to go through on his own. "I wish we had come back sooner, maybe if we had, you wouldn't have gone through that on your own. If you had seen that I was okay." 

"Even if I had, I would have gone through what I did." Cullen pulled Rei against him, and kissed the top of her head. "It wasn't your fault. Thank you for coming to get me out of my nightmare." He looked at the others. "All of you, I won't ever forget it."

"Good, I'm starving. Let's go get something to eat." Dorian nodded at Rei and Cullen, and guided Anders and Cassandra out of the room.

"I love you, husband. Please try not to scare me like that again." Rei nuzzled against Cullen's neck.

"I'll try not to, my love." Cullen closed his eyes, and reveled in feeling Rei beside him again. He prayed as he listened to Rei's breathing that they would grow old together, and that they were strong enough to not let anyone or anything come between them again.


End file.
